OTHER GRASSES OF SECONDARY IMPORTANCE 221 



of 15 grasses during trials of 7 years, the average yield 

 for the period being on small plots at the rate of 8720 pounds 

 an acre. In other trials where the plots were cut 6 times 

 each season during 4 years, slender wheat-grass was ex- 

 ceeded only by tall oat-grass and orchard-grass. 



Acre yields have been reported from other experiment 

 stations as follows : Minnesota, 4700 pounds ; Michigan 

 (Upper Peninsula), 5440 pounds; North Dakota (Dick- 

 inson), 2950 pounds, 2-year average; Wyoming, 2065 

 pounds ; South Dakota " nearly as large yields as brome- 

 grass." 



Slender wheat-grass has also given good results in 

 mixtures, especially with brome-grass ; with red clover ; 

 with red clover and timothy ; and with alfalfa. 



At Brandon, Manitoba, in a feeding experiment com- 

 paring slender wheat-grass with brome-grass, 4 steers 

 fed brome-grass gained 675 pounds and 4 fed slender 

 wheat-grass gained 660 pounds. At Indian Head, Sas- 

 katchewan, in a similar trial 5 steers gained 910 pounds 

 on brome and 5 others 830 pounds on slender wheat dur- 

 ing the same period. 



WESTERN WHEAT-GRASS (Agropyron occidentals) 



259. Western wheat-grass is also known as blue-stem, 

 blue-joint and Colorado blue-stem in various parts of the 

 West. It is native over practically the whole region west 

 of the 98th meridian from Saskatchewan to Mexico. In a 

 general way it resembles slender wheat-grass, but the 

 whole herbage is glaucous and the grass spreads by numer- 

 ous creeping root-stocks. 



Western wheat-grass is quite resistant both to drought 

 and to alkali, but it is seldom abundant except where 

 the ground is naturally or artificially irrigated. Under 



